Boutique brewers

Small batches feature local ingredients

Justin Korby of Stoneman Brewery in Colrain and Peoples Pint brewer Chris Sellers sample their beer share beer that they are producing in Colrain. Seen here at the Pint brewery on Hope St. Recorder/Paul Franz

COLRAIN — Just call it “here-beer:” a new brew made with at least 90 percent local ingredients grown in Hampshire and Franklin counties.

Stoneman Brewery’s Justin Korby and People’s Pint in Greenfield have teamed up with the River Valley Market food co-op in Northampton to produce and sell “Co-Hop Spring Ale” — the first in a series of “Beer Share” local “brews of the month.”

The beer will be on tap for the first time on Sunday, from 5 to 7 p.m. at The People’s Pint, where small-batch local brewers and farmers are expected to gather.

On Monday, about 10 cases of the brew will be for sale at River Valley Market. And when it’s gone, it’s gone.

“It’s a one-time thing,” explained brewer Korby who runs a nano-brewery through a novel community-supported agriculture model. This new “Beer Share” collaboration with local stores and the Pint is a new sideline.

“We hope people will love the idea of falling in love with something that’s one-of-a-kind, that will never happen again. It’s for the promotion of local beer, it’s a way of working with other small, local brewers and it’s fun.”

In November, Korby started Stoneman Brewery, which sells shares in the brewery, in return for cases of his beers. About six months into this venture, Korby says he has about 50 CSA share-holders.

Korby started the Beer Share Project as another form of community collaboration. “We went to River Valley Market, and they came up with the beer name,” he said. “They wanted a spring ‘hoppy’ pale ale, a refreshing beer. (Brewer) Chris Sellers of People’s Pint came up with the hops recipe, I came up with the malt recipe.”

According to Korby, most of the hops for this spring IPA were grown by Four Star Farm in Northfield and most of the grain was grown and malted by Valley Malt in Hadley. The water comes from a spring-fed mountain-side well from the Korby family’s 80-acre farm in Colrain.

People’s Pint head brewer Sellers said the brew to be sold at the Greenfield pub on Sunday will be cask conditioned.

“We naturally ferment the beer in a small cask,” and we condition the beer at room temperature, to create carbonation,” said Sellers. He said a little sugar is added to the brew to spur the fermentation and carbonation.

“It will actually be served a little bit warmer,” he said. “You will end up being able to better taste the complex characteristics of the beer.”

Sellers said Korby plans to work with different breweries and retail outlets to create the recipes for each monthly local beer. “It’s a neat way to include an actual retail outlet in a cooperative process,” he said.